Recap: Project Runway, Season 9, Episode 5

Recap in 140: Looking for maximum drama, the producers give us a race, tears, and a returned aufee all in one episode. The clothes? Meh.

Episode summary: The designers wake up in their fancy apartments to boxes of sneakers ant-shirts and shorts waiting for them in their kitchens. “It’s an athletic challenge,” says Anthony with a groan. The designers have to meet Heidi and Tim at the New Balance track in Washington Heights.

Heidi Klum works with New Balance and last season there was a team challenge to create a three-piece line for her collection. Repeat challenge? Sounds like it. Tim says it will be four three-person teams, and to decide the captains they have to race around the track, and the first four to cross the line get to pick their teams.

Wait! Cecilia wants out. She’s broken up about Julie being auf’d and before the race she decides to quit. Normally, this would mean the previously auf’d designer (Julie) would come back. So in a round about way, I guess she’ll get what she wants.

Oh well, they still have to race. Joshua is off to a good start, and then Olivier goes down. But, he manages to get back up and finish anyway. Joshua wins, then Bryce, Anthony, and Viktor. Heidi, in her huge heels, runs in the end with Bert and then beats him. Hah. For some reason, there’s a medic with Olivier. “This looks bad,” says Tim, no doubt concerned. Seriously, though, he just tripped.

Joshua, Bryce, Anthony and Victor all make their choices going with Anya, Kimberly, Laura, and Olivier, respectively. Joshua scoops up Becky and, after a pause, Bryce goes for Danielle. That leaves Anthony no choice but to pick Bert, and he is not pleased. Viktor and Olivier are left with just two. This is where I would have expected Julie to come sauntering in from the sidelines (an athletics challenge would be perfect for her!), but since its reality TV and they can do what they want, Viktor gets to choose who comes back. He goes with Josh C., the bald Mormon.

Heidi has been designing sneakers for New Balance. They’re made from denim and suede, so they need to make three looks per team made of the same materials. But, Heidi says, don’t worry about being sporty. The winning design(s) will be sold on Amazon.com as part of Heidi’s collection.

The teams split up to plan their designs. Joshua shoots down every one of Becky’s ideas. In his interview he says he chose her for her sewing ability, but doesn’t consider her a style icon. Kind of a jerk thing to say.

Viktor and Olivier sketch away and seem to be pretty much on the same page. Bryce’s team all seem to get along. Anthony and Laura have worked together before and they’re all buddy-buddy, leaving Bert out on his own.

At MOOD, each team has $300, does their shopping, and then it’s back to the workroom for the designers. It’s 3:30 and Tim says they only have until 11 p.m. For three cohesive looks, that seems a little nuts, but clearly this is an episode meant to rap up the cattiness and drama, so we’ll see how it goes.

Becky is being shut out of all the decisions. “I need Becky to be working, sewing and completing these garments,” Joshua says. “I don’t really need Becky to be thinking too much and designing really anything at all.” Wow. That’s one of the meanest things I’ve heard someone say on this show in a long time. It’s a design competition, Joshua, not a place to recruit manual labour.

Viktor seems to be the best team leader in the bunch, and he and Josh C. and Olivier are practically singing tra la la as they work happily away.

Although the cameras haven’t shown Bert being too much of a jerk, none of the designers seem to like him. Oh wait, he says he doesn’t know most of their names because they’re “insignificant.” Yeah, that’s probably why they don’t like him.

“I feel like I’m in the intern who’s there to sew,” says Becky after Anya asks her to sew her garment. You see, Anya has never sewn jersey before. Nice, right?

Heidi comes to tour the workroom. She doesn’t like what Bryce’s team is making, so they need to start again. Heidi doesn’t like the skirt Olivier is making, but he’s going to prove her wrong. Anthony’s team is too dressy. Heidi calls out Joshua for making in the same dress every week. Tim says he’s concerned by Becky’s marginalized role, but he doesn’t call out Joshua. Heidi gives the designers until 4 a.m. (an extra 6 hours) and they rejoice.

Joshua tells Becky she’s “dowdy” and then, after she storms off, he tells Anya that Becky’s demographic is “40 to death.” Nice. Then, like a true leader, he tries to make it up by saying dowdy isn’t a bad thing. Oh Joshua, you’re a real witch. Naturally, he blames Becky for his bad design, then Anya tries to tell her how to sew. Becky goes to cry in the bathroom, and then Anya and Joshua come in and try to make nice. Team hug in the bathroom stall!

In the morning, before the runway show, Bert makes the mistake of using Joshua’s sewing machine. Joshua freaks out, Bert tells him to “drop dead.” Hmm. I guess the producers are getting their drama after all.

Runway show: Guest judge is Erin Wasson, a model and designer apparently no one has heard of. I love that this whole runway show will be done in sneakers. That’s my favourite twist of the episode.

Team VOJ has a really nice, sporty rock ‘n’ roll collection. Team BKD is alright, but nothing really stands out. Team ALB is really sloppy looking, except for Bert’s, which is at least well made. Last but not least Team JAB (hah!) did some interesting things and it is at least interesting and cohesive.

The teams were so all over the place, there’s no clear high and low, Heidi says. Up first, the catty and conflicted teams: JAB and ALB.

ALB is up first. Anthony says he and Laura worked well together but Bert wasn’t interested. Anthony doesn’t like Bert’s look, which is ballsy considering the state of Anthony’s shorts. Nothing like a fight on the runway. Oh Bert, lying on the runway is no good. Nina calls them out for focusing on Bert instead of their designs. Bert cheers when Anthony and Laura get criticized.

JAB: Heidi thinks they used the extra time to bedazzle their clothes. But, she loves Anya’s maxi-dress. They’re okay with Joshua’s look, but they don’t like Becky’s, which seems unfair since she didn’t design it. Becky stands up for herself, the judges don’t seem to care and in fact kind of congratulate Josh on ruling with a heavy hand. What the heck?

Okay, round two of judging.

VOJ is up first. Viktor explains the looks and it’s clear that everyone had an equal role. The judges love Viktor’s dress and leather jacket. Nina love’s the “road warrior vibe.”

BKD is up next. Judging goes way faster when the teams don’t fight on the runway. Michael loves Bryce’s look, but not so much the other two. He says Danielle’s blouse is a “souffle that flopped.” Nina thinks it’s weird to have only one coloured garment. Heidi likes Kimberly’s jacket.

This is definitely the “drama episode,” and the judging session is making that clear. Oh, they don’t like Danielle. From all the crap that showed up on that runway, Nina pulls out Danielle. Wait, is it “one day you’re in, the next day you’re out” or is it based on past challenges? Anthony’s was definitely the worst, but Nina doesn’t like Danielle, so we’ll see.

Oh, Heidi is going to change the rules, since it’s her challenge: Two winners! Viktor (who had the best look) and Joshua (who was a tyrant). Yay? Oh, it’s the maxi dress that won from Joshua’s team, so really Anya won? This is so confusing. Anyway, teams JAB and VOJ are both in, although Joshua then gets Becky’s name wrong. He sure is a charmer, that one.

Bert, Laura, Bryce, and Kimberly are all in. So, the moment of truth. Is it the worst design on the runway or the one who’s consistently boring? Well, it may be Heidi’s challenge, but Nina won this round again. Danielle is auf’d, but Heidi tells Anthony that if it were up to her, he would be out. Tears all around.

Tim Gunn congratulates the designers for telling the truth on the runway. Normally, he would be annoyed with them for the cattiness, but this is alternate-reality TV, so no worries.